The women’s hockey team traveled to Rhode Island to face off against the Nichols College Bison, concluding its nonconference play for the season. Wesleyan lost 2-1 in a tight, down-to-the-wire affair.
The game was remarkably even on the stat sheet: both teams totaled 28 shots, had close to the same number of power plays (five for Wesleyan, four for Nichols), and failed to score through the first two periods. It was a clean, well-played game consisting of good defense, few penalties, and plenty of nice stops on the part of Wesleyan goaltender Corinne Rivard ’16. The stalemate didn’t end until the latter half of the third period.
With just under nine minutes left in regulation, Laura Wasnick ’15 snuck one past Nichols goalie Francesca Palazzo to give Wesleyan a 1-0 lead. It was Wasnick’s first goal of the season, and with the Cardinal defense playing well, it looked as if it might be enough to secure the victory. However, things fell apart for Wesleyan soon after.
Nichols finally began to find holes in the Wesleyan defense, scoring twice within the next six minutes. Bison players Grace Murphy and Megan Gerein were the parties responsible, both netting their goals unassisted. The Cardinals, considering themselves the better team, found themselves in a surprising hole.
“Towards the end of the game, [Nichols] got two lucky bounces for both of their goals,” Wasnick wrote in an email to The Argus. “The first goal, they blocked a shot from one of our defensemen and went down basically on a breakaway. The second goal they scored was tipped off of a Wesleyan player. Nichols just had more luck than us that night.”
Wesleyan Head Coach Jodi McKenna pulled Rivard off the ice for the final 1:49 in favor of adding another position player, but the last-ditch move failed to produce an equalizing goal. The final buzzer sounded, and the Cardinals took the loss.
With the nonconference schedule completed, Wesleyan’s final record is 3-4-1 outside of NESCAC play. A team’s nonconference record has no bearing on NESCAC playoff berths or seedings, but the loss still stung.
“We go into every game trying to win, no matter what team we are playing,” Wasnick wrote. “Yeah, it was a nonconference game and we played girls that usually do not play, but that is not an excuse as to why we lost.”
While the Cardinals certainly would have liked to end nonconference play on a positive note, they can now focus on finishing out conference play as they seek to rise in the standings. Wesleyan currently sits in seventh place in the NESCAC, with a conference record of 2-5-3; the top eight teams earn a spot in the postseason tournament.
“All of the girls know what’s on the line,” Wasnick wrote. “We know that we have an opportunity to make playoffs this year. We know the hard work that needs to go into these next three weeks to make sure that playoff spot is clinched.”
The Cardinals next take to the ice when they host Hamilton on Friday, Feb. 7. Hamilton has yet to earn a conference win on the season.